Region 5 Brownfields Success - Mille Lacs Tribe of Ojibwe, Onamia, MN
Former Wastewater Treatment Lagoons
Converted into Fish Hatchery
Opportunity:
The Mille Lacs Tribe was
seeking a reuse opportunity
for a 45 acre former wastewater
treatment plant with six waste
lagoons, which had been sitting
idle since 2004. Several ideas
were proposed, but a Walleye
fish hatchery had the greatest
merit in bringing economic
opportunities to the region's
lakes, which are a favorite
of sport fishermen.
Targeted Investment: EPA and theMille Lacs Brownfield 128(a) coordinator
worked together to request EPA Land Revitalization Technical Assistance (TA)
funds. This TA was utilized to determine the feasibility and cost of converting
the six lagoons into a fish hatchery. EPA's contractors, (SRA/HDR) developed
conceptual plans and costs for this conversion, providing a practical how-to
guide to Mille Lacs.
Results: With only with $10,000 budget, along with technical assistance and
donated tanks from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mille Lacs scoured the
area hatcheries to acquire surplus equipment to create a pilot-scale hatchery,
which produced 12,000 Walleye fingerlings during the summer of 2016. For 2017,
this number grew to 3.5 Million. These fingerlings have been released into area
lakes, providing future source of food and economic vitality for the tribe and
the Region.

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